Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Caribbean
| Publisher | Child Soldiers International |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Caribbean, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4988066cc.html [accessed 1 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Commonwealth of Dominica; Grenada; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (for Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti, see separate entries)
Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.
Population: 418,700 (aggregate)1
Government armed forces: see text
Compulsory recruitment age: not applicable
Voluntary recruitment age: 18-19
Voting age: 18
Optional Protocol: Dominica acceded 20 September 2002
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): Dominica: CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 138, ILO 182 Grenada: CRC, GC AP I and II, ILO 138, ILO 182 Saint Kitts and Nevis: CRC; GC AP I and II, ILO 182 Saint Lucia: CRC, GC AP I and II, ILO 182 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: CRC, GC AP I and II, ICC, ILO 182
Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had no military forces; security is the responsibility of the police forces which contain small paramilitary units. Saint Kitts and Nevis had a small military force patrolling jointly with the police. There were no reports of under-18s in these security forces.
Government
National recruitment legislation and practice
The police force in Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines is each country's sole security force. None maintains military armed forces, although the police forces carry out a range of security duties and include coast guards and special units with paramilitary training. Grenada and Saint Lucia each have around 800 officers; Saint Vincent around 700, and Dominica has less than 500. Saint Kitts and Nevis has a 370-strong police force which includes a coast guard and a 30-strong unit with light infantry training, and a small defence force; the military forces patrol jointly with the police.2 The main area of operations beyond law enforcement was in anti-narcotic activities.
Recruitment is voluntary. In Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines the minimum age for recruitment is 18 or 19.3 A police bill initially put before the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2002 proposed the minimum age as 18.4
1 The Statesman's Yearbook 2004, ed. Barry Turner, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
2 US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003, February 2004, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm; Background Notes 2003-2004. On Saint Kitts and Nevis, see also Dion E. Phillips, In the matter of the St Kitts and Nevis Defence Force, December 2000, http://www.uwichill.edu.bb/bnccde/sk&n/conference/papers/DEPhillips.html.
3 Initial reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Dominica (UN Doc. CRC/C/8/Add.48, 15 October 2003), Grenada (UN Doc. CRC/C/3/Add.55, 28 November 1997), Saint Kitts and Nevis (UN Doc. CRC/C/3/Add.51, 5 May 1997) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (UN Doc. CRC/C/28/Add.18, 10 October 2001), http://www.ohchr.org.
4 Police Act of 2002, http://www.stkittsnevis.net/legal.html.
